I posted that ant series with an agenda: I have been following the work of microbiologist Bonnie Bassler on bacterial communications, and wonder if there may be an equivalent biological means of thwarting bacteria by manipulating their communications. (Manipulating rather than trying to kill them, which may not even be in our best interests as collateral damage to good bacteria causes other problems.)

I didn’t want to post anything new until I got around to finishing at least those two things, but I couldn’t help posting this amazing talk by Salman Khan of Khan Academy.

Wow. Anyone who homeschools should see this. Anyone who schools should see this. I love his analogy of education being like building a house. What’s the purpose of having some kids finish 60% of the foundation and 50% of the framing, and then moving on to something else just because everyone else does? I went to a public school in a small town in South Dakota when I was a girl and it was a work-at-your-own-pace place, with so much enrichment. I have since met SO many creative and accomplished people who came out of that one small program.

For SolveEczema.org users in particular: After the talk, my son and I lined up with everyone else to shake Khan’s hand, say Thank You, and to take photos. In the first part of his lecture, he was so candid about his journey in a way I wish I could be. What he said rang so, so many bells. When we got through the line, I said, “If you ever want to mentor someone, I think I’m you, only with medicine, and 7 years ago — at least I hope so.” (10 years ago?) I gave him my card, and he said, “That’s interesting, because I have eczema.”

I keep hoping he’ll try the site strategies, because I’m beginning to think this has to be experienced, even by those who don’t have eczema (especially by those who don’t have eczema) for anyone else to understand the broader medical and environmental implications. To get researchers to understand why there’s almost no way the underlying environmental issues involved as described on SolveEczemaaren’t a factor in bat white nose syndrome/bat fungal susceptibility — they almost have to experience the process and transformation themselves, again, even if they don’t have eczema.